The area of Karachi was known to the ancient Greeks by many names: Krokola, the place where Alexander the Great camped to prepare a fleet for Babylonia after his campaign in the Indus valley; 'Morontobara' island, from where Alexander's admiralNearchus set sail; and Barbarikon, a port of the Indo-Greek Bactrian kingdom. Alexander's writers: The Manora Island and was visited by Ottoman admiral Seydi Ali Reis and mentioned in his book Mir'ât ül Memâlik in 1554. According to the British historian Eliot, parts of city of Karachi and the island of Manora at port of Karachi constituted the city of Debal. The island was the site of a small fort constructed in the eighteenth century when the port of Karachi traded with Oman and Bahrain. The KalmatiBaloch tribe was settled in Karachi and they raised an army to defend the port from the British invasion. The Kalmati forces were defeated when the Manora Fort was stormed by the British in 1839 because of the strategic location of Karachi. Although the fort is now buried beneath the naval base, the lighthouse is a visible reminder of the British presence having been rebuilt in 1889 by the Royal Engineers, including the Canadian Alain-Chartier-de-Lotbiniere Joly de Lotbinière to assist vessels approaching Karachi harbor. The island of Manora has served for more than 50 years as the main base of the Pakistan Navy, with berths for naval vessels located along the eastern edge of the island. The island has been governed as a military cantonment despite being located so close to Karachi. The opening of the new Jinnah Naval Base at Ormara, 250 kilometers away, has meant that approximately half of the naval vessels have moved away from Manora.
Tourism
Manora is also a popular picnic spot because of the long sandy beaches along the southern edge of the island, which merge into the beaches of the Sandspit and then extend several kilometers to the beaches at Hawkesbay. At the southeastern end of Manora island is the Manora Point Lighthouse with a tower high it is one of the tallest in Pakistan. The island lies approximately 15–20 minutes by boat ride from mainland Karachi but there are no good hotels available for an overnight stay. For this and other reasons, the Government of Pakistan has been considering developing the island into a tourist destination. The island has been envisioned as an exotic location with natural landscapes such as the beaches and the mangrove forests, and secluded beauty with an upgrade for the lighthouse to add to the quaint feel of the island.
There are several ethnic groups in Manora Island including Muhajirs, Punjabis, Sindhis, Kashmiris, Seraikis, Pakhtuns, Balochis, Brahuis, Memons, Bohris, Hindus and Christians.
